National Aeronautics & Space Administration public access policy

Please note: Below is the current policy and procedures for the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA). This policy and procedure will change as all federal funding agencies begin compliance with the August 2022 White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) policy memorandum entitled “Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research.” Please see our OSTP/Nelson Memo impact webpage for more details and updates about the policies and upcoming changes.

What do I need to submit to NASA?

The NASA Plan for Increasing Access to the Results of Scientific Research ensures public access to publications and digital datasets arising from NASA research, development, and technology (RD&T) programs. The plan applies to all peer-reviewed scientific research publications authored or coauthored by investigators funded for this research by NASA appropriated funds. This includes both civil servant and non–civil servant investigators. Publications that contain material governed by personal privacy, export control, proprietary restrictions, or national security law or regulations are excluded, as are patents.

Do I have the rights?

Unless otherwise provided in the award, grantees own or may permit others to own the copyright, subject to the Federal Government’s license. The Federal Government has a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to exercise or authorize others to exercise all rights under copyright to use a federally-funded work for Federal purposes. The Federal Government license includes the right to have the copyrighted material included in a repository where the public can search, read, download, and analyze the material in digital form.

Where do I submit?

All NASA-funded researchers (both civil servant and non-civil servant) are required to ensure that copies of publications and associated data are deposited into NASA’s designated public access repository, PubSpace. The PubSpace Collection, formerly housed by National Institutes of Health (NIH), is now included as a part of the STI Repository.

When do I need to submit?

Per NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Policy (SPD-41a), released in September 2022, peer reviewed manuscripts resulting from NASA-funded scientific activities shall be made freely available to the public by default, without any embargo or delay after the publication date. For articles that are not published as Open Access, the author’s copy of an accepted manuscript may be made publicly available in the STI Repository at the time of the article’s acceptance for publication. Authors must submit accepted manuscripts to PubSpace no later than the article’s publication date.

How do I submit?

STI’s Submit to PubSpace webpage provides specific details about the submission process.

In brief:

  • For articles published as Open Access by journal publishers participating in the Clearinghouse for the Open Research of the United States (CHORUS), the published article will be made publicly available in the STI Repository on behalf of the authors.

    • Authors should verify that their article is available in the STI Repository following its publication, in which case no further action is required by the author. View a list of journal publishers participating in CHORUS.
  • For articles published as Open Access that are indexed in the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS), no further action is required by the researcher to comply with public access requirements for the article.
  • For articles published as Open Access that are not covered by CHORUS or ADS, authors can submit the final published article to the NASA STI Repository via the PubSpace submission page at the time of the article’s acceptance.

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